The course approved
by the UGC under
Innovative Programs
M.A - Sanskrit
specialized in
Shabdabodha Systems
&
Language Technology
An Interdisciplinary PG program
(Computer science, Vyakarana, Nyaya)
NEED OF THE COURSE

The Indian traditional systems dealing with language
(Vyakarana, Nyaya and Mimamsa) have distinguished potentiality
to support NLP researh.

It is realized and rightly pointed out by the renowned
Computer Scientist Rick Briggs as in [Briggs-84] – pointed out
that certain problems of concern in Natural Language
Processing have been either thought about or actually solved in
an old tradition of Sanskrit Grammar Philosophy

This had been noticed and discussed in various conferences
and workshops for under the general title of Sanskrit and computers
where computer science people and Sanskrit scholars have
interacted.
Continued…

This has resulted in R&D activity at IITK, IIIT, HCU etc.
confirms our view that Traditional Knowledge is relevant to handle
the problems of NLP vis-à-vis Indian languages.

It is felt that Human Resources trained in traditional systems
as well as modern technologies, is to be developed

An NLP course on these lines was designed and conducted
on experimental basis in collaboration with IIIT, Hyderabad.
Hence our Mission is to develop trained human resources
and methodologies for Natural Language Processing based on the
vast knowledge of Shastras as applicable to Indian languages in
general and Sanskrit in Particular
COURSE OBJECTIVES
To conduct leading-edge research and development in
Natural Language Processing using vast treasure of knowledge
stored in different traditional Shastras. This may open the door for
further research in Shastric knowledge. We hope to demonstrate the
efficacy of Shastric knowledge to the present day problem areas.
· To develop significant NLP tools for Indian Languages required
for the needs of present day society.
· To work collaboratively with a wide range of partners to bring the
NLP research in Indian Languages into full play for a broader
spectrum of users.
·To provide meaningful research opportunities to Sanskrit
community of scholars, including faculty, graduate students, and
post graduate students in this interdisciplinary area.
· To implement the principles of traditional knowledge in AI field.
COURSE CONSTITUENTS
1. Computer Science: Basic programming skills, understanding
of software development concepts, text-processing
techniques, and exposure to various computational models
2. Shabdabodha systems of Vyakarana, Nyaya and Mimamsa.
3.
NLP applications.
COURSE STRUCTURE
SHABDABODHA
CONCEPTS
NLP CONCEPTS
37.5%
37.5 %
PROJECT WORK
25 %
COURSE CURRICULUM
I Semester:
1. Concepts of Shabdabodha – I
2. Nyaya Paribhasha
3. Introduction to & Natural Language Processing concepts
4. Introduction to Computers and Programming Concepts
5. Mathematics
Software Lab – I
II Semester:
1. Concepts of Shabdabodha – II
2. Shabdabodha texts
3. Western Logic & V-C method ( A new approach of Indian logic)
4. Natural Language Processing advanced concepts & NLP tools
5. Project work
Software Lab – II
continued…
III Semester:
1. Computational Concepts in Astadhyayi
2. Shabdabodha texts (Nyaya/Vyakarana)
3. Natural Language processing advanced concepts
4. Project work
5. Programming Techniques
Software Lab – III
IV Semester:
1. Knowledge Engineering
Major project work
Bridge Courses:
Three supporting bridge courses in Sanskrit, Computer
Science and Mathematics will be offered to the admitted students
before starting the actual course.
PROSPECTS OF OUR COURSE
· Job opportunities from R&D.
Language Technology Institutions like LTRC, DAC and other
centers of TDIL, IISC, IITs where NLP research is going on
· In Sanskrit institutions
Vidyapeethas of Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, Vanasthali
Vidyapeetha etc., require trained man power for teaching and research
· In Industries
Software Industries involved in Interactive Voice Response
applications, Speech Processing, Telemetry Applications, Machine
translation etc offer avenues
Teaching in Sanskrit and NLP areas
NLP related Projects like Sansk-Net, Machine Translation Systems etc.,
Web Content Development centers in Indian Languages
OUR STRENGTHS
-
Departments : Computer Science, Vyakarana, Nyaya
-
Students from all over the country
-
Contribution in field of NLP
-
Credentials
Accredited at A+ grade by NAAC
Centre of Potential for excellence in the subject of
Traditional Sastras
Major Projects
• Morphological Analyser for Sanskrit : A fully
automatic morphological analyser is developed by
the faculty and students of the Unit taking as a part
of their project. Now the Alfa version is made
available on internet. Website :
• Machine translation English to Sanskrit : The
students have developed MT for English to
Sanskrit, which translates English circulars in
Sanskrit with some human aid.
Achievements of last two years
• Held a National Symposium on “English grammar
in Paninian perspective” in Nov 2005
• Two papers are presented by the students in
National seminars conducted by Hyd central Uni,
and IIT Bombay
• Three papers are published by Faculty members in
international journals.
• Three workshops were conducted for teachers by
the team one each in Gujarath University,
Shankara University, Kerala and two in the
campus of RSV.
Students’ Project
•
•
Ramayana Linguistic analysis: As a part of the
project the Ramayana text has been tagged and
linguistic analysis is done using statistical
techniques.
Machine Translation (English to Indian
Languages) : The students took active
participation by contributing concepts and
writing programs for English – Hindi Anusaraka
Machine translation systems. Website :
Students’ Project
• Diagrammatic Representation of Nyaya Texts :
This project aims at presenting terse expression of
Nyaya texts in diagrams so that the understanding
the Nyaya Expressions will be easier. For this
basic plan is ready and application is under
progress.
• Bridge between Nyaya & Logic : This is a
theoretical Project. A methodology is developed to
translate Logical Expressions written in FOPL to
Nyaya Language. Reading material is being
prepared under this project.
Students’ Projects
• Sandhi Package for Sanskrit : To join two words where
sandhi takes place and to separate words which are
conjoined, a project is undertaken by the students. First
phase of the project is already over. The second phase in
under progress.
• Morphological analyzer for Malayalam : A complete
Morphological analyzer for Malayalam Language has been
undertaken.
• Sanskrit wordnet : Sanskrit wordnet as a base for indo
wordnet has been started with the collaboration of IIT
Bombay.
• English-Hindi wordnet : This project is also undertaken
with the cooperation of IIT Bombay.
People
• Prof. K.V.Ramakrisnamacharyulu and Prof.
S.S.Murty were coordinators for this project
• Presently Smt. R.J.Ramasree,
Comp.Science is coordinator and
Dr.Shrinivasa Varakhedi is Addl.coordinator
• Prof. Vinieeth Chaitanya and Smt. Amba
Kulakarni are visiting professors
Courses Available at the Center
(Shabdabodha and Language Technology)
•
•
•
•
•
Ph.D – 3 years
M.Phil – One Year
M.A. – Sanskrit – Two years
P.G. Diploma – One year
Shastri – with one paper in NLP